AN ENGLISHMAN ON CALIFORNIA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 521, 12 April 1872, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN ENGLISHMAN ON CALIFORNIA.

An Englishman in California thus relates his expe ienCe on the Pacific Coast, in a letter from California in the London Sp \ tor. This traveler appears to differ very widely from most of his countrymen who visit Amerm. H estimate of the difie nee'between Ca’ifo Ha < and other citizens of the United States is novel, at leas . He says:—All Englishmen with whom I have talked a ,rco that there is a marked difference between Californians and other Amemass and in favor of the former. It «.» out, I think, most cl lyintbe mann of the lower cl es, who have a certain f-auk courtesy that I have not met elsewhere hi the States. Our explanation is t t Califo ia has been settled by picked men from all countries of the world. Perhaps the general prosperity has something to do with it; it is easy to be good natured when you are well off, as Becky Sharpe felt that she could be virtuous on three thousand a y But lam inclin I to think that -fee habit o wearing and using arms, wh’ prevailed almost universally'till quite lately, has had something to do with the punctillious politeness of miners and field laborers. I rem r being told, three years ago, by a lace inhabitant of Julcsburg, whe >. that remarkable little township cearecl to exist, that it only recognised two codes : sixshooter law and lynch law; you shot a man if his manners were bad, and hanged him if his morals were unsatisfactory. Both codes were rather yi ovously enforced. There is a story of a miner who shot his opposite neighbor at the breakfast table became he helped himself to too muoh gravy, I have seen the spot whore a drunken lawyer was shot down for ill treating an Indian, by a philanthropic blacksmith, who had tried remonstrances without effect, and whom a jury declared to be not guilty of murder. And I have been myself in a gambling saloon in Cheyenne where every man was armed to the teeth, and have admired the stately decorum with which the occasions of quarrel were avoided. A trilling incident that occurred to myself in a small miners’ town the other day, may perhaps show that something of this spirit has lasted

over into peaceful times. I was glancing at the names in the visitors*' book of the hotel, when a man of the roughest typo came behind me an I began reading over ray shoulder. I diewback observing that he was no doubt in a hurry, and that I could easily wait, as Iliad the evening before mo. But the man was so obviously disconcerted that 1 had to resume my place. Later in the evening I passed by bim in the hall. Ho was evidently waking for me, and came up to speak : “ 1 should bo very sorry lor you, to think that I was one o f those bummers who loaf about a hotel and try to force themselves upon gentlemen. I thought ray old schoolmaster had o' 1 mo to town by the stage this evening, and was so anxious to see if I could find his name that I took the liberty of looking over your shoulder But I didn’t mean to disturb you.” [ assured him that ho hadn’t done so ; and, I hope, left him at peace with himself. But it certainly struck me that there are not many countries in the world where such a man would have been troubled for such a matter, The pleasanter side ot such deference to a strangers feelings is a self-respect which makes tho lower classes in California among the most agreeable companions I have known anywhere in a corresponding class.”